OpenVault Broadband Insights Report (OVBI)
“Service providers have experienced across-the-board growth in consumption and speeds, testing networks as never before.”
Tracking broadband usage trends on service provider networks offers tremendous insight into consumer behavior and its impact on service provider operations. The OVBI offers this insight through analysis of millions of broadband subscriber usage data points across live networks in the U.S. and Europe. This 4Q20 edition of the OVBI also breaks new ground by exploring the cumulative impact of pandemic growth on broadband networks. The combined index factors in both per-subscriber usage and the growth in subscribers to get a true picture of the type of traffic increases the industry has experienced.
Key findings in the OVBI Q42020 report include:
COVID-19 has forever changed bandwidth usage patterns.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic began towards the tail end of the first quarter of 2020 The impact was immediate and has forever changed bandwidth usage patterns. As 2020 came to an end, subscribers, on average, were consuming close to one half of a terabyte (TB) of data, up 40% from 2019. The pandemic impact is even more pronounced with the growth in upstream bandwidth.
As OpenVault predicted, average monthly bandwidth usage at the end of 2020 approached one-half of a terabyte (TB) of data, or close to 483 GB. Subscribers on unlimited usage plans, or FRB plans, were closer to 497 GB.
The monthly weighted average data (both FRB and UBB) consumed by subscribers in 4Q20 was 482.6 GB, up 40% from 2019. FRB-based network operators are seeing nearly 30% more 2 TB power users than operators who utilize UBB.
The OVBI Average Broadband Household Index continues to offer a snapshot of the typical broadband environment.
According to the Index, the average household used 452 GB of downstream and 31 GB of upstream bandwidth in 4Q, supporting four streaming services and more than 10 connected devices.
Quarter-over-quarter growth in Europe was up a whopping 48%
European total average usage is up 48% from nearly 203.5 GB in 4Q19 to 301.2 GB in 4Q20, while median usage for European subscribers reached 216.2 GB, up 59% from 4Q19 (135.9 GB).
Download the full report now to get all the details and then contact OpenVault to understand how these findings and others impact your business. Learn how OpenVault solutions can increase overall revenue and ARPU, better manage your networks, and save time and costs while they increase subscriber satisfaction.
